As the US national security community and wider commentariat discuss the possibility of US airstrikes in Iraq targeting the jihadi group ISIS, Daniel Byman and Robert Farley both argue against strikes, with the former arguing that even morale-boosting bombing won’t heal Iraq’s sectarian rifts and the latter warning that history shows that airstrikes which kill civilians only bring popular support to groups like ISIS.

Pakistan’s military offensive along the Afghan border: in Steve Coll’s words, “Pakistan’s military occupation of all of Waziristan now looks to be a multi-decade project, akin to the Indian occupation of Kashmir or the Israeli occupation of the West Bank—a heavy load on a state that already has too many.”

ABOUT US

Barbara F. Walter is a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego. Erica Chenoweth is a political scientist at the University of Denver. Joe Young is a political scientist at American University. Together, they edit this blog to provide simple, straight-forward analysis of political violence around the world.